Plantation of Ulster

The Plantation of Ulster was the organized colonization of the Ulster region of northern Ireland by people from Scotland, England, and Wales from 1609 to 1625 (during the reign of King James I of England). County Tyrconnell, County Tyrone, County Fermanagh, County Cavan, County Coleraine, and County Armagh were confiscated from the Gaelic chiefs, many of whom had gone into exile in 1607, and most of County Antrim and County Down were privately colonized by British landowners. The colonization of Ulster with loyal settlers was seen as a way to prevent another Irish rebellion against the crown, and Lord Deputy of Ireland Arthur Chichester saw the plantation as a way to Anglicize the Irish. The colonists were therefore required to be British Protestants, with English Anglicans and Scottish Presbyterians moving into the region. The result of the plantation was the cultural division of Northern Ireland from the rest of the country, the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, and the growth of Ulster Scots and Anglo-Irish populations.